DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke’s announcement that he is offering to step down as a Cabinet minister could be seen as part of a broader strategy by the party to “play on two chessboards at once”.
The first chessboard is about principle and political identity. Since 2018, DAP has built a significant part of its political legitimacy around issues such as 1MDB, accountability and the demand that those responsible be brought to justice.
Loke’s decision can therefore be read as a signal to DAP supporters that the party has not abandoned those principles following the conditional pardon granted to former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
At the same time, DAP does not appear to be choosing the more disruptive option of withdrawing its ministers from the government altogether.
Loke announced on Saturday that he would resign as Transport Minister and submit his resignation letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the near future.
The announcement came after the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department confirmed that Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim had granted Najib a conditional pardon on August 18.
The conditional pardon allows Najib to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until August 23, 2028, provided he pays a RM50 million fine and complies with the conditions imposed.
Yet Loke is the only DAP leader to have announced his intention to leave the Cabinet. Other DAP ministers and deputy ministers are expected to remain in government.
DAP currently has five ministers and seven deputy ministers in the administration.
This is where the second chessboard comes into play: power and government stability.
If all DAP ministers were to resign, the move would go beyond a protest over the Najib issue and could potentially create a wider political crisis. Instead, the party appears to be drawing a distinction between making a political statement and destabilising the government it remains a part of.
That approach is also consistent with DAP’s decision in August to remain in the Unity Government until the end of its term.
In other words, Loke’s proposed resignation does not necessarily represent DAP walking away from the government. It may instead be an attempt to balance two competing political necessities, maintaining its credibility among supporters while continuing to play a role in the administration.
The question now is whether that balancing act can hold.
DAP must convince its supporters that remaining in government does not mean compromising on the principles it has long championed. At the same time, it must maintain its role within a coalition that depends on political stability.
That makes Loke’s resignation more than a question of one minister leaving Cabinet. It raises a bigger question about how DAP intends to define its place in the Unity Government , as a party willing to draw a line on principle, but equally unwilling to let that line bring down the government itself.
Perhaps that is the real strategy behind playing two chessboards at once.
Azzman Mantoya (azzman.tvpertiwi@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
